Homeless Man Sentenced To 30 Years

David East Says He Had No Choice But To Plead No Contest To 2nd-degree Murder.

April 21, 2005|By Ludmilla Lelis, Sentinel Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- A 50-year-old homeless man was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday after reluctantly pleading to a murder charge.

David Grover East, who has a prior murder conviction in his native North Carolina, pleaded no contest to the second-degree murder of John Michael Householder, 52, of New Smyrna Beach on Feb. 23.

However, the plea seemed in doubt when East told Circuit Judge R. Michael Hutcheson:"I didn't do it."

"I didn't kill anyone, but I can't beat it. I know I can't," East said in court. "I don't have any choice."

The judge discussed East's right to a jury trial, explaining that he had a choice of going through one. Hutcheson also questioned him several times about whether he wanted to go through with the plea.

He explained that some defendants offer a plea because it is in their best interest. East, who has a third-grade education and has been homeless for several years, quietly resigned himself to that idea.

Assistant State Attorney Matt Foxman said there was sufficient evidence to try the case, including East's statements to police that he struck the murder victim in the head with a hatchet.

Householder's killing was similar to a 1993 North Carolina case for which East served more than seven years in prison. Both slayings occurred in wooded camps for homeless men. The victim was beaten to death after an argument, then buried or covered up, according to reports by investigators.

Householder was found buried at East's campsite off West Knapp Road on Feb. 24, according to police reports.

Led to the campsite by an eyewitness, police found East in bloodstained clothes, sitting near the buried corpse and bloodstained dirt.

The witness, James Kritchen, told police that he saw East strike Householder with a hatchet after the men argued and Householder insulted East's mother, according to court documents.

In the 1993 case, a few homeless men watched as East beat 47-year-old Bobby Brame to death with an oak stick at a wooded camp in Raleigh two days before Christmas, according to a report. The report said that after the beating death, East covered the victim with leaves and branches and a discarded tire.